Senior JD(U) leader KC Tyagi on Thursday said alleged rampant corruption prevailing in all areas and expressed shock that even members in the Rajya Sabha came through paying heavy money as independent candidates.
Participating in the discussion for consideration and passing of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment)Bill, 2013, Tyagi also expressed surprise over the corruption in some media houses which sought earnest money to publish news in favour of a candidate seeking election. He said that he himself faced such a precarious situation while contesting lok Sabha polls in 1984.
Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday advocated caution on an anti-graft Bill with a Samajwadi Party member saying the new law instead of checking the menace will increase corruption and make elected representatives more vulnerable. The Bill will be discussed further on Monday and likely to be passed.
Tyagi said he considered the measure “a good Bill brought in a haste” and rued that while MPs have to lose their membership over such issues, there are dozens of secretaries, who served in corporate houses after their Government service, which gives rise to suspicions about some quid pro quo.
Tyagi also faulted the Congress for making a former Chief Election Commissione (CEC) a Rajya Sabha member and said “if any CEC picks up a Government post or becomes a member of some party after retirement, his role must have been questionable”.
Minister of State in PMO Jitender Singh said he endorsed the view of the Opposition members. “It is not the elimination of corruption. It is the incorruptibility, which has to be the target.”
Naresh Agrawal (SP) suggested that the Government was bringing such anti-corruption Bills in a “haste” alleging it was seeking to deflect attention from its “failure” in bringing back black money and called for a “reconsideration” of the measure.
Holding that mere enactment of laws cannot check corruption, he cited instances of the situation after enactment of tough laws on violence against women after the Nirbhaya gang rape case and asked whether cases of women atrocities have stopped after that.
The anti-corruption amendment bill is aimed at enhancing penalty for graft to a maximum of seven years from five years now, among other new provisions to check the menace.
Agarwal rued that while MPs can lose their membership in corruption cases after this bill, prior permission will be required for action against any officer of and above the Joint Secretary level.
leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said while everyone was committed to fight corruption, “such a law should not be made, which make all of us helpless... There is a need to think about it. We are committed to check corruption but it should not be a case that the one who is committed to it, does not survive”.